Competing With Perfection
by keeperofthescarf
Summary: (Ch. 5) A tale of Sonja's striving for Andy's affections, and a new enemy the likes of which Orange Star has never faced.
1. A Cometary Party

Seigyoku City... the City of Sapphires. Andy stared in wonder at its beauty as the APC rolled down the streets of the city that was the cultural capital of the Yellow Comet nation. Ornate fountains and majestic cherry trees lined the streets that had already been well-worn five hundred years before, when the other three Alliance nations had only begun to recover from the medieval fighting and dark ages. The sun was shining warmly through the azure colored sky. Andy watched a cloud that looked like Olaf with a cowboy hat on, then watched a beautiful pair of blue-feathered birds fly along near the APC. He wondered what species of bird they were, but his musings were interrupted by the heated discussion being held between two of the other commanders who rode with him in the crowded vehicle.

"I don't see why we have to fly all the way out to Nukigawa City and then drive for two hours to Seigyoku just to see the graduation of a bunch of cadets!"

"Oh, Max, quit being so selfish! Kanbei made just as long a journey to be the official Cometary representative at Orange Star Military academy graduation last May."

"And he ate every last one of those creme-filled desserty thingies! I didn't even get a single cookie during the entire reception!"

Andy smiled as Max and Nell both sighed and looked out the windows, doing their best to pretend to ignore each other. He turned to the fourth and final passenger and asked, "So Sami, are you looking forward to the ceremony tomorrow?"

"Hmm?" Orange Star's commando specialist turned away from the window to look at him. Her clear green eyes searched him questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"Well," said Andy with a mischievous smile, "I thought you might want to spend some time with a certain Green Earth pilot who I heard would be here for the weekend."

"I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about," stated Sami in a disdainful voice, though her lightly blushing cheeks gave her away.

Andy knew that when you push Sami too far, it wouldn't be playing with fire, it would be like lighting a dynamite stick and seeing what would happen. Max on the other hand, was either too brave or too playful for his own good.

"Don't worry, Sami. We'll cover for you if you and Eagle are making out in a side corridor during the ceremony!"

Max's grin faded when the fire erupted in Sami's eyes. Nell laughed nervously at the tension and announced, "We're here!"

* * *

Emperor Kanbei and his personal honor guard stood in precise military formation before the orange-painted APC, waiting to welcome their honored guests and accompany them to the Great Hall of the Yellow Comet Military Academy. They weren't exactly expecting to see a three-hundred pound man fly headfirst, screaming, from the just-opened door of the transport, but there was little that could truly surprise the great warrior and his elite troops. As Sami emerged from the transport second, she stepped on and over her fallen comrade, ignoring his grunts of pain and smiling sweetly.

"Commander Sami, it is a pleasure, as always, to see you again." Kanbei had a hint of confusion in his voice, but he attempted to get around the prostrate tank-driver to formally bow and shake Sami's hand. "Ah, shall I assist Commander Max in..."

"Oh no, he'll be fine."

Andy and Nell emerged from the transport, helped Max to his feet, and followed Kanbei and Sami into the building that housed and educated the men and women that would be the future commanders and military scientists of Yellow Comet. The halls were remarkably clean and white, and Andy was surprised to see computer terminals at regular intervals along the corridors, with advanced holographic battle simulators sitting in the common rooms where cadets would normally be relaxing and chatting at this time of day. Nell apparently noticed the same thing and asked Kanbei about it.

"You know I don't rely on technology in war," he responded, "but even I realize that our soldiers today must combine the skills of both the past and the future to win battles. When my little Sonja suggested to me that we should modernize the academy, I allowed her to install a 'network', 'internet access', and some more advanced battle simulators to help prepare the cadets for battle in today's world."

The group reached the doorway into the Great Hall and entered into a scene of chaos. All four of the Orange Star COs gasped at the spectacle of cadets dancing wildly in any available space between tables, some of them even on top of the tables. Gigantic speaker systems sent wild rock music blaring across the cavernous room, and it looked like two burly students were having a boxing match in one corner. Nell looked blankly at Kanbei for some sort of explanation.

"These students have studied nothing but the art of death for four long years. Even the samurai needs to stop and have a little fun now and then, or he will go mad! Tomorrow they will leave here forever, sent off to the navy or army, so let their last full day here be one to remember for the rest of their lives!"

Andy turned to Nell with a surly look. "The Orange Star graduation ceremonies were memorable, all right... memorably boring!"

Max joined in. "Yeah, and there wasn't even any alcohol until afterwards at the party down on 11th Street!"

Sami just walked away. "You two are hopeless!," she called out over her shoulder.

Max grinned at Andy. "C'mon, let's go find some saki!"

* * *

Even as Andy had kidded Sami about her anticipation of seeing a special someone at the ceremony, he had secretly had butterflies in his stomach about who he might meet before the day was done. His thoughts drifted back to the last time he had seen her, sitting on top of one of her scout recons, trusty binoculars in hand. Well, now that he thought about it, he had seen her once after that final battle with Sturm, as all the commanders and generals posed together for newspaper pictures and a victory celebration. But she wasn't the same person when she posed for the cameras as she was when she sat in the dawn mist and formulated her plans. The former girl was the darling of the Comet Army, the girl prodigy the papers just had to photo daily. But the latter was something else, a beautiful but powerful commander who had gained a quiet confidence in herself near the end of the Second Invasion. That martial aspect of her personality made her so attractive that Andy was sure she could have any single man that she sought.

And so Andy wandered through the crowds of celebrating cadets, simultaneously hoping to avoid being seen by Sonja and being to bashful to talk to her, and hoping to catch a glimpse of the face he had come to love. As he passed one table with a couple students whose uniforms indicated that they would be entering the artillery division, one cried out:

"You're Commander Andy of Orange Star!"

The cadets at nearby tables were interrupted from their laughing, becoming wide-eyed when they realized one of the war's greatest heroes was standing right there. In seconds, they had surrounded him. They peppered him questions as if he were a god, even though Andy was sure the youngest of them couldn't be a whole year younger than him.

"What was it like to be battling against Sturm?"

"Who taught you to be such a brilliant strategist?"

"Do you favor missile units or anti-airs for dealing with enemy bombers?"

Andy was overwhelmed and slightly embarrassed by the eager young men crowding around him. His embarrassment only increased when the voice that he dreaded and loved spoke out from behind him:

"Gentlemen, gentlemen, please! I'm sure Commander Andy is quite exhausted after his journey here!"

Andy whirled around to face her. Sonja was smiling at him as she continued. "Give the Commander a chance to enjoy our hospitality, and maybe he will reward us all by giving a short speech at commencement tomorrow!" Sonja gave Andy a small wink that melted his knees and rushed blood to his cheeks. But as she opened her mouth to say something more, her father's great voice called out for her. "Sonja! Come here please!" Sonja's eyes flashed a sort of apology, it seemed, and Andy was forced to watch her disappear into the crowd with only a short "Goodbye" on her lips.

Andy sighed and went to find Max.

* * *

Elsewhere, in a room adorned entirely in black, with chairs and table of deep charcoal grey, and windows tinted so darkly that even the sun could not penetrate them, the darkest man of all stood.

"Lash, are your men ready?," the voice asked imperiously.

"Hee hee! It will be just like Capture the Flag, only much more fun!"

"No more fun and games, Lash. You failed me once already, and if our forces were not so disorganized since I had just taken control, I would have made you stay behind with the force until you succeeded. Remember that you are quite expendable to me if you continue such failure."

Lash's merry demeanor darkened somewhat. "I understand, Hawke."

Hawke turned as if gazing out the windows that hid the secrets of the outside world. "Operation Quarantine must succeed."

Lash took it as her dismissal and walked out of the room to prepare for her mission. Adder remained silent and watched the Lord of Black Hole contemplate the empty air.

"Follow her. Ensure that the mission does not fail."

Adder saluted and left without a single witty, sarcastic, or self-centered remark. Hawke was angry, and Adder knew it.

Hawke continued to gaze out into space long after his second-in-command departed.

"Operation Quarantine must succeed."


	2. Arrival

---Author's Note:

First things first... I forgot the whole happy disclaimer thing about how I don't own Andy, Sonja (though I wish I did! ;) ), Nell, or any other characters or concepts of Advance Wars. Nintendo and its happy little daughter companies do, and this is why they are raking in cash, not me.

Second things second... Thanks so much to Foulds and GenocideKing for their positive reviews, and especially to Foulds for his advertising me in the latest chapter of his story. In all fairness, I will now reciprocally advertise: GO READ HAWKE'S VENGEANCE AND SOARING TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN. READ NOW. DO NOT RETURN TO MY MERELY 5000-ISH WORD STORY UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED READING BOTH OF THESE EXCELLENT FICS. Thank you for your cooperation.

Thirdfully, and as always, review if ya like it, review if ya hate it, but after reading this threat you must review or else I will send my demonic minions after you to attack you in your sleep and steal your opinions of my story from your head, probably in a most painful manner!

---End author's note, and enjoy!

* * *

The hundreds of student revelrers returned to their dormitories as the wild party wound down, many falling asleep with the aid of a bit too much alcohol. Andy exited the elevator and staggered down the hall and through the door of the guest suite he had been assigned to. If he hadn't been too exhausted to notice, he would have greatly appreciated the plush carpeting and the beautiful paintings that adorned the walls of the comfortable suite. His roommate, Max, was already snoring loudly on the first bed, and Andy thought he would never be able to get himself to sleep. He was more tired than he thought, and soon after he undressed and lay down on the bed, the numbers on the digital clock by his bedside swam out of focus and his thoughts of the party, Max, Sami, and most of all, Sonja, swirled out of coherence. Everything was so peaceful... and then the harsh sound of a knuckle rapping quickly against wood filled the spacious apartment. Andy's eyes snapped open and looked at the clock, which showed it was only 4:47, a mere three hours after he had fallen asleep. Sami's voice, insistent, called out from the other side of the door.

"Andy! Open up!"

Andy threw on some pants and a t-shirt as he called back. "What's going on, Sami?"

"Trouble at Schwartzchild Base back home! Enemy commandos have penetrated the outer walls and there's still fighting going on!," she responded.

He bit back a curse as he flung open the door. Schwartzchild was a military lab devoted to highly experimental technology; when the Neotank plans had first been stolen from Flak, it had been the analysis center and initial factory for the fearsome weapons. Any enemy force that could successfully download the data in its many computer banks would hold an incredible military advantage in the following months of a war.

Sami stormed into the room as soon as Andy opened the door. She took one look at Max, who hadn't stirred a bit during the shouting. "C'mon, Andy. He's too drunk to be any use to us for at least a few hours, probably a day or more."

The duo jogged down the hall to the elevator, taking it down to the first underground level, where a large classroom that had been used for training movies had been hastily converted into a briefing room for the CO's to use. When they entered, they saw Nell and Sensei studying a large display screen. Nell was wearing her usual purple dress uniform, a bit wrinkled from having been put on in haste, and Sensei wore simple khaki pants and shirt. The battle display simplified the battle conditions by showing terrain features and units as small images and animated characters to allow the commanders to make quick decisions. As Andy watched, several infantry units were rapidly moving away from the base. Though one of them was highlighted in orange to indicate its nationality, there were at least three units highlighted in gray to show that their nationality was unknown. Andy found it impossible to keep track of how many enemy infantry there were, since they used the fog of war and forests to aid their progress, only darting into sight of the pursuing forces for a few moments at time.

"The enemy outnumbers us at least three to one on the ground there," Andy said after studying the screen, "so why aren't they attacking our men down there?"

Sami turned to him. "First, those are my own crack troops following them. Even if the attackers turned around and flanked them, they would suffer heavy losses before taking all my commandos out. Second, they have to know that air support and armored reinforcements are already on the way, and if they want to escape, they can't waste a single second. Third, if they engage my men, even for a minute, we'll have direct visual contact and know their location."

"Which we will no doubt have anyway in 53 seconds." The unexpected voice behind Andy made him jump a foot in the air and nearly fall over. He turned to see the ace pilot of Green Earth in the back corner. Eagle appeared ready for battle in his usual flight jacket and his lucky goggles hang around his neck, but even he looked a bit tired from lack of sleep. He pointed to the screen, where as if on cue, several squadrons of fighters marked in green streaked from the west edge of the map towards the darkness that concealed the fleeing infantry. Andy tried to calm his suddenly accelerated heartbeat as he continued to question Sami.

"I thought your troops were the fastest foot soldiers in all of Wars World... so uh... why aren't they overtaking the enemy?"

"My forces may be able to march quickly, but they can't keep up a double time pace for very long. They came from a military base several miles away, and they're probably starting to tire and slow down. Still, all we need to do is keep the enemy moving and in sight until reinforcements can corner them."

Andy watched as the lead group of fighters approached the spot where the enemy seemed to be hiding. And in a flash of fire and flak, they fell from the sky.

Everyone in the room gasped and Eagle raised a small com unit that had been hidden in his left hand. "All fighters, get the hell out of there right now, and mobilize Gamma Bomber wing!"

Eagle looked at the other four commanders in the room, shaking with anger. "They hid anti-air units in the forest..."

Nell opened up a comlink with her own forces in the area. "Send the 101st and 103rd tank divisions around the west side of the forest. I don't want a single infantry or armored unit escaping."

A faint reply from the local tank commander of "Roger" crackled over the intercom. As the tanks encircled the forest, Nell laid a hand on Eagle's arm and murmured her condolences for the loss of the pilots. Sensei tried to reassure him as well. "They died in the service of their country, Eagle. There is no greater honor than that."

"Yes, yes, I know... but I will make sure those cowards pay..."

Nell turned to her two subordinates and spoke. "Andy, I want you and Sami to get back over to Orange Star and figure out what exactly happened on the ground as soon as possible."

Sensei also turned to the two CO's. "There's a T-copter on the roof of the academy prepped to take you now, if you're ready to go," the kindly old gentleman offered.

Andy stifled a yawn. "Do we have to leave right now?"

"You can sleep in the copter," Sami said as she rolled her eyes. "Let's move out!"

hr

Sonja tapped her fingers impatiently against the control panel of the elevator as it descended towards the room where she heard the other CO's were gathering. A messenger had awakened her to tell her that Sensei had put all Yellow Comet airbases and naval groups on "yellow alert" and that he wanted to talk to her in room B17, which she remembered was the instructional movie theater. She shivered slightly as she wondered what had happened, and wished that she had thought to change into more suitable clothing than the white silk nightgown she wore. Though it was not exactly revealing, and she had taken a spare army jacket to wear, the air was still a bit chilly for her tastes. A soft musical tone sounded to indicate that the elevator had stopped moving, and the doors opened to reveal Sami barrelling down the hall towards her, dragging Andy along in her wake. He stopped as soon as he saw Sonja, unable to take his eyes off her and seeming to be gasping for air, and Sonja blushed. Sami, however, was not affected by Sonja's beauty and gently but briskly pushed her out of the elevator as she pulled Andy in.

"Sorry-Sonja-would-love-to-talk-but-we're-in-a-bit-of-a-hurry-see-you-later!," Sami pushed the button for the top level of the building as she tried to explain to the bewildered Yellow Comet CO. Andy looked like he was still struggling to say something, but the doors shut just as he stuttered out a hello. Sonja shook her head and sighed as she turned back to walk to where Sensei and Nell were waiting for her.

hr

The T-copter was buffeted by winds as is approached the landing site, but Sami thankfully noted thatat least it wasn't raining. As soon as she and Andy were out and walking on Orange Star soil, Sami began to survey the scene, though there wasn't all that much to survey. The theme of the day seemed to be gray, from the dim sunlight that barely pierced the sheets of gray clouds to the sheer destruction of tons of foliage being flash-vaporized. Each bomb weighed approximately one ton, each bomber held ten of them, and Gamma Wing was made up of almost one hundred bombers. Eagle told his bombadiers to make the anti-aircraft units hiding in the forest rue the day they had been born, and nothing could drive them to greater precision in their art of death than the rage they felt over the loss of their pilot comrades. No units had been seen exiting the forest before the bombing run began, so it was assumed that all units in the forest had been destroyed. 'Still,' thought Sami, 'It would have been nice to have something left as a clue.' There seemed to be nothing but fine ash and blackened trunks of trees uprooted by the force of the blasts left in the desolate landscape that stretched over several square kilometers. A single oak, tall and majestic, appeared to be the only living thing left for kilometers in any direction. Its bark was darkened and scored by shrapnel, and its wide boughs twisted and stripped leafless from the explosions, but still it stood, seeming a memorial both for the fallen pilots of Green Earth and their mysterious assailants. Sami turned her attention back to the investigation. Even though dozens of soldiers and a few forensics teams were sifting through the debris as fast as possible, no evidence had appeared yet that any units had even been in the forest when the bombardment began, much less any evidence to show where they came from. Of course, everyone suspected Black Hole; there really wasn't anyone else _to_ suspect. But even though it must have been a failed attempt by Hawke to get Orange Star's military secrets, Sami reasoned, there would be no way Orange Star could risk a bloody confrontation with the still powerful Black Hole without solid proof it was behind the attack. Sami walked through the sea of ash to the newly set up headquarters tent where Andy had just begun to discuss the events of that morning with the head scientist, a Dr. Leon Carroll. None of the base security guards who had been on duty when the attack began had lived to tell their tale; apparently the only survivors were those who had been inside the laboratory complex. Dr. Carroll was a very boring, almost robot-like man, not showing emotion, and he looked more haggard from lack of sleep than affected by the excitement. Even his voice was almost completely emotionless.

"I had just said good night to Dr. Rand, my laboratory partner, as she left for bed, and gone back to studying our latest strains of _Enteronimus Staphylococcus _when an explosion rocked the entire lab. We often test various weapon components over in E-wing, so I figured that it must have been an explosives test that went off with a bit more power than estimated. I called up to the guard station to ask what happened, and I heard several gunshots before the line went dead. I didn't know what to do. Eventuall I decided to take my issue sidearm from my desk and got into a good position behind a lab table so I could shoot anyone who entered my lab." The scientist shrugged. "No one came, until the special forces arrived and told me to wait here for debriefing, and not leave the country or anything."

Sami turned to Andy and whispered, "This scientist isn't going to be any help figuring out what happened."

Andy thought, and then inquired to Carroll, "Could we talk to Dr. Rand? Maybe she'll have seen what happened."

Dr. Carroll swallowed hard, and showed the first sign of emotion, a wet look in his left eye that threatened to become a tear. "If she was walking at a normal pace after she left the lab for her apartment in the base, she would have been outside when the attack began, only a few dozen yards from the spot where the bazooka penetrated the outer wall and let them in. Every security guard in that sector was killed... I don't see any way she could have survived, though we haven't found a body."

Andy and Sami's faces, already dejected from a night of little sleep coupled with the demoralization of an attack against a base, fell a notch further. Andy dismissed Dr. Carroll and they called back to Nell, still in Yellow Comet with the others. Sami spoke first.

"Nell, we haven't found out much so far, other than we lost thirteen infantry in the attack, and we still don't have any evidence that Black Hole did it. Dr. Carroll was telling us that his partner, Dr. Rand, is missing and presumed dead. Do you know her or anything about her?"

Nell seemed shocked by the news. "Dr. Rand was one of our best researchers... she was an expert in naval design, theoretical combustive chemistry, long-range ballistics, climatology... there wasn't much she couldn't write a thesis on, if she were inclined to. The woman was an absolute genius. I have no idea how this will affect our R & D program over the next couple years."

Andy wondered, "You don't think that Black Hole might have timed the attack when she was walking outside just to kill her and stop our research, do you?"

Nell's brow furrowed in thought for a moment, but she responded, "No, I don't think there's any way they could be that precise, and know exactly when to attack. They must have been trying to steal something, but were delayed by security long enough to decide to leave and attempt to escape."

"Anyway," she continued, "There's a new sub-commander that was just promoted and would be an excellent addition to the Orange Star tactical staff. Her name is Catherine. I want you, Andy, to work with her to shore up our defenses at all our northern bases while Sami continues the investigation. She should be arriving any minute now, so get to work, and I hope to talk to you again soon!"

The screen went blank. Sami nodded to Andy and gave a half-smile. "Good luck, and say hi to that new CO for me. I need to find the chief of security and ask him a few questions."

As Sami walked off, Andy heard the deep hum of an approaching T-copter, which was already a large orange dot in the sky, skimming along over a hill as it approached the devastated plain. The copter came in and hovered a few meters over the hastily-cleared landing area, scattering charred leaves and soot in every direction, forcing Andy to cover his eyes with a hand as the copter descended. The whirring blades slowly lost speed and eventually ground to a halt as it touched down and powered off. The door opened and the first person to jump out was a young man, barely two years older than Andy, but more heavily decorated with medals than most career generals in Orange Star. Andy recognized him as Captain Stone, the Air Force chief of staff for Andy's personal forces during Sturm's second invasion and a daring pilot who had led bombing runs against the black cannons and superlaser during the final confrontation, making him one of the most famous officers in all of Orange Star after the war. Andy was happy to see him again and talk about old times, but his greeting was stopped dead in his throat by the sight of the transport's other passenger. Stunning would have been an understatement in her description, though it did accurately describe the effect she had on men. From the way that her full blonde hair waved in the light breeze, reminiscent of a commercial for shampoo, to the way her curvaceous body filled her uniform, she seemed utterly without imperfections. She smiled, revealing the rows of shining white teeth, and addressed her new superior. Even her voice was melodious, the lilting notes seeming to dance in the air.

"Commander Andy, I presume?"

"Uh, er, uh, y-y-y-es, that's me. You're, uh, uh, Sub-commander Catherine?"

"Pleased to meet you! You can call me Cathy, or just Kat, if you'd like. I guess you and Captain Stone have already met?"

The dashing young pilot seemed to be under Catherine's spell as well, nodding as he answered without taking his eyes off the ravishing woman. "Uh, h-hi Boss!"

Andy didn't take his eyes off Catherine either as he mumbled some sort of friendly reply. Catherine assumed a more formal tone as she suggested, "Maybe we should get started with assessing the security at the local bases?" Andy nodded dumbly in assent and the three walked back toward the provisional headquarters, the bombshell blonde being trailed by two battle-hardened generals who followed blindly like ducklings after their mother.

* * *

As night fell across the continents, the warriors and tacticians who had changed the course of history all prepared for bed. Eagle sat at a desk, stone-faced, as he tried to compose the letters that would be sent to the families of each of his downed pilots. Sonja listened to classical music, letting the complex rhythms and crescendos wash over her mind, calming her. She sneaked a glance at the picture of Andy she hid in a drawer of her bedside table/desk, sighing as she turned out the lights to go to sleep. Nell pored over the data that had been compiled on the time of the attack, the nature of the attackers, still very sketchy on numbers and description, and the preliminary findings of the forensics team at the site, which happened to be that they hadn't found anything yet. She shook her head, took an aspirin for her headache, and tried to go to sleep. Andy lay in bed, awake, unable to think about anything but the beauty of the officer he had met earlier that day. As he slowly fell asleep, he dimly realized that it was the first time in longer than he could remember that Sonja's face hadn't guided him to his dreams. Max, having recovered from a nasty hangover and being appraised of the situation, was making up for his absence earlier in the day by taking over the night shift at central command, watching out for any further attacks and being ready to respond. There were two other Wars World CO's that weren't interested in sleep either.

"Checkmate, tee-hee!"

"This game was unfair from the beginning, you little brat. You only won because you got to play as black."

"Silly Adder! In grandmaster games, black only wins 43.7 of the time! I let you have white to give you a chance, and it was only your poor strategy that cost you the game!"

Adder flicked a rook in anger across the small tent where it landed in the accumulated leaves on the forest floor where the tent had been set up. He could hear the sounds of Black Hole special forces working to pitch other tents in the clearing. They had figured that the chances of any spy planes finding a group of only twenty elite commandos and their modified transport copter in such a dense forest were small enough to risk setting up camp so close to the spot where Orange Star was studying the bombing site, as long as they didn't start any fires or use powerful flashlights. Adder turned his attention to his younger companion.

"Speaking of poor strategy," Adder retorted, "how do you plan to explain this morning's failure to Hawke?"

"We didn't do that badly, Adder... nearly two-to-one infantry losses in our favor, and they still don't know anything about our other forces in the area. Besides, with the 132nd tank corps out near the coast, I'm sure they'll be far too busy over the next couple days to notice anything we do right here under their noses. We should have another chance to complete our objective."

Adder slouched yet lower in his seat, narrowing his eyes. "I hope you are correct, Lash, but hope is the emotion of fools. Our situation still does not look good, and who knows what could happen tomorrow..."


	3. The Hunters Gather

--------author's note---------

Sorry it's been so long since the last update... school's been hectic lately. I promise I'll try my best not to allow another month before the next update. You can rest assured that my sister will continue to torment me until I update again, and again.

Remember the "Fight Club" rules now...  
1) You must review my story.  
2) You MUST review my story.  
3) Two flames per chapter.  
4) Reviews go on as long as they have to.  
5) If you go limp, or tap out, you must be a really bad typist.  
6) No misspellings, and no all caps sentences.  
7) Finally, if this is your first time reading, you must review.

Tyler Durden...er... I mean Keeperofthescarf.

-------end author's note--------

It was still before dawn when Sami emerged from her tent onto the bleak landscape, wearing her usual combat fatigues and white tank top. She knelt down to finish lacing up her combat boots and looked up at the sky, just beginning to show a lighter tint of blue in the east. She walked through the dim light and scorched underbrush towards the larger tent that had been made provisional headquarters. As Sami entered the tent, she saw the forensics expert and a younger man dressed in a simple khaki uniform standing over a table examining a large metal fragment. They both looked up at her entrance and the younger man greeted her, looking grim but still trying to be cheerful.

"Good morning, Commander. You're sure up early!"

Sami smiled tight-lippedly. "No use sleeping in late when there's work to be done, Captain... Stone, right?"

The man nodded and turned to the shard of steel before them. Sami observed that it was shaped like a long, jagged piece of pipe. "We made two very interesting finds during the night as the soldiers searched the area of yesterday's attack. This piece of steel has a special zinc-carbon alloy along the inside curve, an alloy only used in products created by one company, Syntex... does that name ring a bell to you?"

Sami shook her head, but before she could respond, the voice of her longtime friend and ally spoke out from behind her.

"That's the company that manufactures my tanks and anti-airs," Max said, pausing to take a sip of coffee, "and they have the highest quality large-caliber guns in all of Wars World. Only their anti-airs could shoot down Eagle's fighters so quickly."

Sami turned to Max with a puzzled look on her face. "So Black Hole somehow bought a few anti-airs from Syntex and kept them there in ambush?"

The forensics expert cleared his throat and spoke. "No, we ran a check with all of our military storage facilities, and it was discovered that a group of anti-air units were missing from a base not too far south of here. Somebody stole the anti-airs used in the attack."

Sami frowned. "It doesn't really seem like Black Hole's style to steal units. They have nearly infinite resources, and Hawke's own units are just as good."

Max turned to her. "You don't think someone else might be behind it, do you?"

The investigator cut in, shaking his head. "No, we're pretty sure that Black Hole forces were the ones attacking yesterday morning. Take a look at this."

He pulled a large box resembling a giant drink cooler from under the table, grunting from its weight, and flung open the lid. Sami gasped and Max choked on his coffee, while the faces of Stone and the investigator remained impassive. In the container was the body of a Black Hole commando, drenched in blood.

* * *

Within an hour, Nell was up and informed of the new findings. She immediately opened up a comlink channel on the frequency the Black Hole leaders were known to use for contacting Orange Star CO's and taunting them during battle. The static on the video screen coalesced into the image of Flak, the recent invader of Orange Star. His expression was almost impossible to read, since his trademark goggles obscured his eyes and his mouth was busy chewing potato chips.

"Whaddaya want?" Potato bits spewed forth as he spoke.

"Would you mind telling me why Black Hole forces attacked one of our bases yesterday? I thought we were keeping a ceasefire since Sturm's death."

"I'm not going to tell you anything, lady. Hawke said if anyone from Orange Star called, I shouldn't tell them anything, and I should wait for Lash and Adder to get back before moving any troops."

Nell sighed. She couldn't help but wonder how busy Hawke must be to let someone as inept as Flak take incoming calls, but she couldn't complain as she seized the opportunity to learn the enemy's plans.

"So I guess Adder and Lash will be back from Blue Moon any day now?"

"They're not in Blue Moon, they're in Orange Star, stupid!"

Her fears confirmed, she continued. "Too bad they'll walk right into my artillery trap set up on Alara Mountain."

Flak frowned. "I don't think artillery can shoot that far. Adder and Lash are all the way up in-"

The screen dissolved into static. Nell turned to her communications director, who had been recording the conversation. "What happened?" she inquired.

"Let me rewind the tape and watch it in slow-motion."

The tape began to play its final seconds again, at one-quarter speed. As Flak's lips moved, an arm shot out from off screen, so incredibly fast it was difficult to see even when slowed so much. The hand flicked the switch on Flak's command chair that controlled the connection, plunging the screen back into static chaos. The glove worn by the hand was unmistakably the black leather design belonging only to Hawke.

Nell sighed. "I guess Hawke was more aware of what was going on than I hoped. At least we're warned about the other two coming, though. Open up channels with Olaf, Drake, and Kanbei."

* * *

In the local Orange Star HQ to the north, Andy was slowly reviving from a deep slumber, blissfully unaware of the latest events. He lazily got dressed, feeling much more refreshed than he had being roused from sleep the day before by Sami. Andy gazed out over the landscape through the windows that made up an entire wall of his commanders' suite; to the north was nothing but forests and farmland, with a single city shining on the horizon, and to the south was the military base now under his command, complete with factories, an airport, and a few small towns for all the soldiers and personnel to live in. Andy remembered Nell's directive the day before to shore up security in the region, knowing that every person living for dozens of kilometers depended on his army's protection if Black Hole were to try and attack again. He sighed, not really envying the responsibility, and headed down to the mess hall for breakfast. He walked quickly through the buffet of breakfast foods available, thanking his lucky stars he didn't have the spartan breakfast of unflavored oatmeal that Olaf was fond of giving to his own troops, and grabbed a stack of pancakes and some sausage. As he turned to find a table to sit at he was surprised to see Kat eating at one only a short distance away. She waved and with his heart beating nearly out of his ribcage, he walked over to sit down next to her.

"Did you sleep well, Commander Andy?" she inquired with a smile.

"Just fine, thanks. And, uh, you can just call me Andy, Kat." It was hard for Andy not to smile when such a beautiful woman was smiling at him. He felt a bit more confident and asked, "So, where are you from? We didn't really get a chance to talk last night while we were putting the troops on alert and getting all the bases ready for a war."

"Well, I was born in Blue Moon and lived there until about 6 years ago. My parents..." She lowered her voice. "...were spies for Blue Moon against Orange Star. Because they always had to be able to blend in anywhere in Orange Star, I learned a lot from them about OS culture and the military. They didn't think anything wrong with spying when tensions were all that existed between Orange Star and Blue Moon, but when they found out that Olaf was going to be using their reports for an unprovoked surprise attack, they defected to OS and brought quite a few of Blue Moon's military secrets with them. In gratitude to my parents, Nell put me in the OS Military Academy and after only two years I was able to graduate magna cum laude. I started as a lieutenant in Commander Max's forces, but by the end of the second invasion I was working as a sub-commander in the intelligence division, trying to coordinate all of the alliance forces. Nell thought that my battle and intelligence skills might be useful after this latest attack, so here I am!"

Andy nodded, wowed both by her beauty of her voice and the speed she had advanced her military career. "Do you have any battlefield command experience?"

She grinned. "It's been a year or two since I've been with soldiers out in the field, but I was Nell's personal advisor for a good deal of the last war with Black Hole. I was a good friend of your own battle advisor, actually."

"Really?" Andy paused for a moment, remembering the eccentric military genius who spent most of his time playing video games in a deluxe suite at the OS central headquarters, coming out of semi-retirement only the two times when Orange Star had a war on its hands. "He's a pretty smart guy... I've never beat him in a War Room simulation."

Kat smiled yet again. "Maybe we could play a few battles in the War Room later today."

Andy was about to respond enthusiastically to her suggestion when a messenger came running into the room with a sealed envelope.

He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and jogged over to the table. "Message from Commander Nell, sir. Priority One."

Andy frowned as he returned the messenger's saluted and took the envelope. His face darkened further after reading the contents of the dispatch. He looked up to Kat, her face showing her uncertainty.

"Kat, I think we might be getting a bit too much battlefield experience soon."

* * *

"Sounds like quite a pickle, darlin'. 'Course Blue Moon'll be happy to send over forces to root out them Black Hole varmints."

Olaf cut in, "Of course I'll be leading them to swift victory. I'll have decimated Lash's troops in no time at... at... ACHOO!"

"Hold it, Your Beardedness, you've still got a touch of that cold. You've got to remember that just because you're the King of the Cold doesn't mean you can dance naked in the snow every day on Mount Noel."

"I do not dance naked in the snow every day, only on Tuesdays!"

Nell blinked, and beat a hasty retreat. "Um, uh, I'll talk to you all later..."

Grit laughed at the obvious rage and embarrassment on Olaf's face, but turned instead to speak to Blue Moon's junior CO. "Colin, you wanna mosey on out to Orange Star and give 'em a hand with our old friends in black?"

"Yes, sir! I'll be over there in no time!" Colin had managed to gain a goodly amount of confidence since his trial by fire in the invasion, but Grit still marveled at how formal he still felt he needed to be around Olaf and Grit, two of the least formal commanders in the alliance force.

Grit called in his two sub-commanders and began giving out orders as Colin saluted smartly and left. Grit's country-boy persona was instantly replaced by that of the efficient general. "Transfer all of my direct-combat units to Commander Colin's command, and bring half of his indirect units over to my camp. Set up the artillery in formation beta and keep the rockets in reserve. Missile units should be prepped to fire at first sign of any enemy aircraft. Make sure Olaf's troops are ready to fight anyone who shows up in Blue Moon, but he should be well enough to lead them in an emergency."

Colin strode down to where his personal recon and driver waited to drive him over the border to Orange Star. He got in, smoothed out the wrinkles in his immaculate uniform, and considered possible battle plans. After five minutes, he had decided to take some old advice from Grit and tipped his hat down over his eyes, settling down to get a nap. "I'll need to be well-rested to outwit Lash and Adder." Sleep came quickly to him.

* * *

"Ahoy, Eagle, there's trouble brewing abroad."

The battle-hardened pilot, surprised by his friend's seeming appearance from nowhere, nearly jumped a foot in the air. "Drake! I'm jumpy enough already today!" Eagle looked down at the waves being left in the wake of the G.E.S. Barracuda, the finest cruiser in Drake's entire fleet. He took small comfort in the fact that he was standing atop the bridge, nearly 20 meters above the sea; the wind was blowing hard. Eagle tried to ignore the salty smell and focus instead on the early-morning horizon, the sun at his back. "So what did Nell have to say that now has us charging west across this confounded ocean?"

"Lash and Adder are, as you'd say, flying below the radar somewhere in Orange Star."

"Oh? So the snake and the brat are looking for a dogfight, eh?"

Drake shrugged. "You don't sneak through a blockade when you're on a pleasure cruise, matey."

Eagle turned back to the horizon. "Agreed. Perhaps we shall get a chance to avenge my pilots' deaths. And those of thousands of alliance soldiers."

Drake nodded gravely. "I hope Jess can hold down the fort back home until we're done dealing with these Black Hole buccaneers."

"Jess is quite competent enough to keep any threat under control until we get back and deal with it."

Eagle pulled a small radio and contacted the hangar chief. "Deploy the flight deck." As the ocean breeze began to pick up, the two immense panels in the deck slid out to reveal the retractable flight deck beneath. Eagle jumped down a series of platforms to the main deck and walked past the neat rows of battle and transport copters to a copter with heavily modified engines and armor. He opened the fuselage door and climbed into his personal craft, a beautiful and deadly battle copter that could fly with the speed of a fighter but still attack ground and naval targets with its powerful missiles. His eyes glanced over the altimeter, gyrocompass, and fuel gauges, staying for a moment on the picture taped in the bottom corner of his cockpit window. The smile of the commando was mocking him as usual, daring him to tell her about his feelings for her. Sami. He sighed and started up the main engine, as dozens of his crack pilots did the same. With a synchronized roar, the copters lifted off and headed across the ocean, seeking a prey painted black and cloaked in evil.

* * *

All three of Yellow Comet's brave CO's listened gravely to the news Nell was bringing for the third time that morning. After she had finished summarizing everything she knew, Kanbei spoke first for the three.

"We shall not desert our allies in their time of need! The samurai flag will fly on the field of battle!"

"Father may overdramatize a bit, but our transports should be landing on the northern coast by this time tomorrow."

"Adder and Lash may be tricky, but I'm sure our forces will prevail," Sensei added.

Nell smiled. "We're all so thankful over here for all your help. Talk to you soon, I hope."

The screen went black as Nell hung up, and Sonja turned to Kanbei. "When will we leave to begin the hunt, Father?"

"We? You must stay here with Sensei in case this is a diversion to attack while half our army is in Orange Star!"

"Stay here? You must be kidding! With Max and Eagle in Orange Star, the last thing we need is more brute force led by stubborn commanders. They've got the guns, but they don't know where to aim, and I'm the one who can find them a target."

"But Sonja..."

"I'm the best there is at intel gathering, you know that, Father. Let me go to Orange Star instead!"

"No! Even if you can find them, they are still far too dangerous to engage in battle!"

"No more dangerous than attacking Adder's fortress, or defending against Lash's neotank charge in Korukai Valley!"

Sensei spoke gently, cutting off Kanbei's protest. "Your daughter is one of the most cunning warriors in Wars World, Kanbei. Perhaps we should send the person who is needed most in Orange Star, not the one who can simply fight the best."

Kanbei's mouth jerked a few times as he stuttered and tried to think of a response. "Very well," he said, "but be careful, Sonja. Call back every day, my little lotus blossom."

Sensei patted her on the back. "Good luck, Sonja."

Sonja bowed quickly to her two superiors and headed off to marshal her forces for transport to Orange Star. "Maybe if I can spend more than one day at a time with Andy I'll have a chance with him," she muttered as she walked down the hall.

* * *

Back in Orange Star, Sami was getting ready to eat an early lunch of garden salad and french fries in the crowded cafeteria of Swartzchild Base. She was just pouring the salad dressing on her meal when she was joined by Captain Stone, also taking a break from the investigative work for a bite to eat. She was too deep in thought to notice him as he sat down next to her, so he cleared his throat, and apparently noticing the frown creasing her forehead, asked, "Is something bothering you, Commander?"

"That dead Black Hole commando... you said he died from a knife wound, right?"

"Let me check..." He fumbled with the clipboard full of data that he was carrying until he found the autopsy report. "Subject appears to have died from massive hemorrhaging following the cutting of the carotid artery and jugular vein," he read out loud. "Do you think he might have died from something else?"

"No, I saw the body. There was definitely a major neck wound and the uniform was soaked in blood."

"So what's strange about it?"

"None of my commandos have combat knives unless they're planning to infiltrate an enemy installation. Whoever slashed his throat couldn't be from Orange Star."

"What?!"

"I know it doesn't make sense... but there are other things that don't make sense about the attack either."

"Like what?"

"The attackers got into the base by blowing a hole in the perimeter with a hand-held rocket launcher. The only units trained to use those are mechs, and those same mechs were somehow outrunning my elite infantry. And why haven't we found that one researcher's body... um... Dr. Rand? If she was just killed in the initial attack, where is her body? If she was taken alive, why would the commandos leave with her when they were already running for their lives? What could their original goal have been anyway? The whole thing is just weird. They penetrate the base, kill a few defenders, happen to kill a prominent scientist, and run as if they were scared off. If they were professional enough to breach the defenses and escape my forces, they should have been professional enough to complete their objective without being caught."

"I agree it's weird, especially the part about the knife wound. You don't think one of the other countries might be working along with Black Hole and decided to betray them as they retreated?"

Sami shook her head. "Every one of the other CO's is trustable... we've all risked our lives for each other countless times." She stood up, her small meal finished. "I'll see you later, Captain. I've got some more thinking to do..."

* * *

Adder paced silently in the makeshift HQ that had been set up. He considered he resources that they still had to work with. Only a few contingents of tanks, a small airfield with a squadron of fighters... how could Lash have been stupid enough to let all the infantry be killed? They had been his own best, capable of traveling almost triple the speed that would be expected of any normal infantry, and Lash had been so preoccupied with trying to fight and run at the same time that they were all doomed from the moment they were placed under her command. Now the Orange Star fools would be blundering through this land tomorrow in search of the rest of his forces, and then any attempts to complete the mission with secrecy would be lost. He sighed and turned to look at Lash. "Any new intel?"

"She's got to be planning to attack tomorrow... Those silly Orange Star commanders can't have any clue what they're about to be hit with, tee hee!"

Adder rolled his eyes. "In case you've forgotten, Lash, part of our job is to ensure Orange Star wins tomorrow."

Lash giggled. "But it will be so much fun to see the surprise on their faces when they find the surprise waiting for them out here."

"Just get the troops ready to fight tomorrow, Lash. And make sure that we still have troops to fight with in the morning."


	4. A Rained Upon Parade

---------Author's note-----------

_Yay, chapter 4 is complete and here for your viewing pleasure. Sorry that it takes me forever to update- blame it on my English and Government teachers, but I really will try to update more often. Plenty of action in this chapter, and of course a good old surprise or two. :)_

_Just to clarify, since Foulds seems to think Sonja is far too old for Andy, I want to say that I think Andy, Sonja, and Kat are all about 18-ish. Andy was about 14 in the first invasion, and 17 by the second invasion. About a year has passed since Hawke killed Sturm and ran, leaving everyone happy. Since Sonja is a genius who can even outwit the tactical Lash, I think its reasonable that she would be several years ahead in her education and be in a few classes with Sami. Besides, she's one of the only characters in the original AW who doesn't deride Andy in some way for being a kid, leading me to believe they are actually peers. Not to mention she looks like a bloody Girl Scout in the original game. She seems to have matured a lot, and so has Andy, so now they are now both 18. So there :)_

_And as always, never forget to leave behind a review to prove you were here and as a bonus, get on the list of people who will survive my bloody coup to take over the world._

_Be sure to enjoy!_

_ Keeper of the Scarf_

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Atop a forested mountain deep within the Orange Star territory, a shrouded figure stood and took in the view. The cloak she wore appeared black and was loose enough to billow lightly in the cool dawn breeze; its flowing fabric caught the beams of the rising sun, and the threads woven in the ebon fabric sent out glints of a deep violet reminiscent of Adder's hair. The figure sniffed the air lightly, sensing the rainclouds that were hovering somewhere beyond the horizon. Another sniff. Yes, the same pleasant breeze would soon bring a heavy rain, and with it the dampening of both uniforms and men's spirits. The overhanging hood of the cloak blocked out the light that would have lit up her dark smile. "Perfect," she whispered.

The mood at the Orange Star HQ was subdued that morning. The forecasts were calling for rain in a few hours, and the barometers were already beginning to drop. The CO's were all trying to be cheerful as they readied their troops to move in to the region where Lash and Adder were likely hiding, and Max and Sami were bantering back and forth good-naturedly as usual as they prepared the tank corps and infantry units for battle. Andy was under a Md. tank with his trusty wrench, trying to figure out why the fuel lines weren't getting the gasoline from its tank to the massive engine. As he frustratedly poked around the metal behemoth's innards, he heard someone else slide in under the tank next to him. Andy turned in surprise to see Kat lying next to him and smiling.

"Do you need any help, Andy?"

"Uh... do you have any mechanical skills?"

"I picked up quite a bit from working on Max's tanks while I was in his command. What's wrong with this one?"

As she edged closer to him to see the tubing and gears he had been fiddling with, Andy felt himself getting uncomfortably warm and found it difficult to think clearly.

"Um... er... I think something's wrong with the fuel lines."

"Have you checked to make sure nothing's pinching the line and keeping the gas from flowing through?"

Andy frowned. He hadn't considered that it was possible everything was functioning and the tubing might just be compressed at a single point. He followed the fuel line with his hands until he felt a spot where some loose part of the motor had jammed itself against the fuel line. Andy screwed the part back in place and said to Kat, "Wow, it would have taken me half-an-hour to figure out what was going on if you hadn't come along."

"It's no problem, Andy. I'm just glad to help!"

They both pulled themselves out from under the tank as its driver got in and started up the engine. The low roar, without any knocking in the engine, assured Andy that the tank was ready for battle. He gave a thumbs-up to the driver, who put the tank into gear and lumbered off towards the rest of his division.

Kat smiled and excused herself. "I'll go clean up and get ready for later today. Don't forget to bring a raincoat, Andy!" With a wink, she departed, leaving Andy blushing and again marveling at this girl he had only known for three days.

As Colin walked up towards the platform festooned with Blue Moon flags, Olaf's voice boomed over the cheers of thousands of Blue Moon soldiers. "...for meritorious conduct, outstanding bravery, and actions above and beyond the call of duty, we award Commander Colin the Blue Moon's most prestigious award, the Sapphire Crescent, not to mention a significant monetary award..." Grit pinned the medal to him, but the moment was ruined by a crazed Blue Moon soldier who charged on to the stage. He shook Colin, shouting gibberish, and soon, others were joining him, shouting.

"Sir, we just lost contact with the entire 4th Armored Division!"

Colin's eyes snapped open, and his chief of operations and communications officer pulled back and stood at attention. He jumped out of bed, smoothing out his rumpled blue silk pajamas, and saluted back to them, glancing outside the HQ window to see the morning sun being obscured by dark rainclouds. "I wanted you to let me sleep in later this...wait, what did you say?"

"The 4th Armored Division is apparently gone... One minute they were headed west in formation with all our other forces to meet up with the Orange Star forces, and the next minute, silence over the radio. No artillery or rockets were seen, no aircraft..." The communications officer gesticulated wildly. "They're just gone!"

Colin's mouth hung open as he tried to figure out what this would mean for his overall attack plan. The 4th contained almost all of his battle group's Md. Tanks, and even a few squads of Neotanks. Probably about a third of his total direct unit firepower. He swore, and his two subordinates shifted uncomfortably, realizing how bad the situation had to be for Colin to be using anything but the most proper language. Colin shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts.

"They didn't even put out a distress call?"

"No... whatever attacked them, it destroyed them all too quickly."

Colin swore again. "What could destroy an entire division in seconds and not be seen by anyone?

"Max, you'll be heading due east along the south bank of the Breed River with the majority of our tanks and some anti-airs. Andy, you and Kat will be in charge of all of our ranged units, and will stay slightly southwest of Max's main force to cover him and keep yourselves out of direct combat. Sami and I will move with our infantry and battle copters along the north bank of the river, and cross over to surprise the enemy if there aren't any enemy forces on our side. Colin's forces are already coming northwest from Blue Moon, and Sonja's forces should be coming due south from a beach in sector A7. They're unloading from the landers right now. Eagle has a few squadrons of battle copters that can fly to wherever they are needed. If we move quickly, Adder and Lash will be surrounded and forced to surrender." Nell paced back and forth in front of her three commanders and one subcommander, glancing up at the map in her briefing room to see if there were any flaws in her strategy. "Any questions? Fine then, let's make the attack that could stop Black Hole once and for all from ever invading us again."

As they left the HQ to head out to battle, a light drizzle had begun to fall. Andy, having taken Kat's advice, put on his orange rain slicker and ran over to the waiting APC, where he was joined by Kat. "Ready to kick some Black Hole tail?" she asked with a smile. Andy grinned back at her. "It's just too bad Max will clear them all out before we have a chance to fire any shells or rockets." The APC roared to life and sped along towards the forested area that all of the CO's were resolutely converging upon.

"Sir, we're at the spot where the 4th was when we lost contact."

"And?"

"We can see most of their tracks continuing on through the forest, so something must have caused all their radio transponders to malfunction and they're continuing on just fine. There's no wreckage, no bodies, no sign of any combat around here."

Colin sighed with relief. "Well, keep up the fighter recon flights and tell all of our forces to keep on the lookout. We still need to find them and give them a way to receive orders, or else they'll be charging blind into a combat zone. Contact all of the other CO's and tell them everything we know."

Sonja shook her head wearily as she sat in the command chair of a hastily constructed Yellow Comet HQ on the beach a few miles north of the likely combat zone. Only a few hours into the operation, and already a massive intelligence failure was threatening to doom the whole thing. Her recons were charging south far ahead of the main body of her force, searching for Colin's missing tanks in the dense forest. Md. Tanks going through forest without any backup units to augment their pitiful vision range were begging to be ambushed, especially with the steadily increasing rain further lowering the distance the units could see. She sighed, hoping her sharp-eyed recon drivers could locate and intercept them before they hit Black Hole forces. Sonja watched the battle map and the locations of her advancing units, still incredulous that Blue Moon's tank drivers were idiotic enough not to return to base if they couldn't find the enemy and couldn't maintain contact with their superiors. She took some more aspirin and massaged her temples with her long, slender fingers, waiting for the prey to be found and the battle to begin.

"Green Leader to Beta Squadron. How are you all holding up?"

"Beta Two. Never been better!"

"Beta Three. Visibility is clear."

"Beta Four. Let's kick some Hole!"

Eagle sighed as he switched the radio over to a private channel with Drake. "They're all lying, you know. It's raining too hard to see a Black Cannon out here, much less a tank group. Wind is picking up too, pretty choppy air to fly in."

Drake smiled. "They'd fly through a supernova if you were leading them, Eagle."

Eagle couldn't help but smile as well. "Thanks, Drake. Keep sending us the radar data so we'll know where to shoot... sure as hell won't be able to see our targets with our own eyes."

"Aye aye, Eagle. Fly well and Godspeed. Drake out."

"Green Leader out."

"Well, the game's afoot."

Adder saw Lash's reflection spin away from her computer readouts in his handheld mirror. "A game?! Where?!"

"I was speaking metaphorically, Lash, and there's little time for your childishness. Our window of opportunity is very narrow, as you must realize. The only way we will escape, short of having Hawke send over the entire armada and air force immediately, is if we wait for the moment when those fools are most distracted, and run for it. Hawke said a lander and a small force would be meeting us to escort us back, if we can get to the beach through the enemy lines."

"And Operation Quarantine?"

"The fact that such a large force is in the area means she will be slowed down, if not stopped altogether. There's nothing we can do with just a squad of tanks and a few fighters, so the best course is to simply let them fight it out, kill off as many of each other as possible, and decide what course of action to take after we see the outcome of this battle. I believe that imbecile Max will be approaching her position quite soon, so let's sit back and enjoy the show."

Max's tanks took their time as they drove along the unpaved roads crisscrossing the forest. He didn't want the tanks to leave his Md. tanks behind, and he wanted Andy to be close enough to stop his artillery and begin cover fire at a moment's notice. The way the rain churned the dirt road into a thick mire that bogged down some of the heavier fighting vehicles didn't help either. After traveling through several miles of forest, it was approaching noon, though the sun had not been seen for several hours, blocked by the black clouds. Max's spirits lifted as they came to a small region of plains between the two densest regions of forest. He turned to the driver of his personal tank, a Md. tank with incredible firepower and destructive capabilities. "Why couldn't Lash and Adder hide out here?" he asked wistfully. "Open fighting ground is always the best." He pulled out his binoculars, taking in the view as they traversed the plains. No cities, of course, since this area was too heavily forested to get around in without building expensive highways. Breed River was beginning to rise under the heavy rain, and he could barely see the lines of Sami's troops marching on the other side, guarded by Nell's flying forces. Max scanned the edge of the forest they would soon be entering on the other side of the wide clearing, stopping for a moment and frowning. Tanks of all three sizes, painted blue, were emerging from the forest ahead of them. "I bet that's the group of Colin's that got lost this morning. Signal them to stop." As a powerful strobe light on the side of the tank began to signal the message, the Blue Moon force curved off of their previous heading and approached the Orange Star force, but did not slow. As they got nearer, Max frowned. "Why aren't they stopping?" His driver's answer was drowned out by the sound of over a dozen Md. tanks firing simultaneously into the Orange Star ranks. Max's mouth gaped open in surprise during the split-second before the shells slammed into his tank and everything went black.

Amidst the sudden buzz of orders being given and information relayed in the Yellow Comet HQ, Sonja tried to concentrate on the battle screen. How could she have been so stupid? It was obvious in hindsight that the tanks had somehow been hijacked through Lash's gadgets or Adder's trickery. They wouldn't maintain radio contact because any Black Hole drone would sound different, even over a poor quality radio, from a Blue Moon officer. Sonja forced herself back to the present and the battle unfolding in front of her. The Orange Star forces were retreating slowly back across the plain under the advance of the stolen Neotanks and Md. Tanks, but with Max's men's incredible skill at direct combat pitted against Black Hole forces driving Colin's bargain second-rate tanks, it was almost an even match. Andy was moving his artillery forces forward and they would be deployed and firing in a matter of minutes. With Nell and Eagle's copters racing in to help, it appeared that the battle would be over in no time. Sonja and Colin's forces were both moving through the forest towards the battle site as quickly as possible, though only Sonja's recons had made it to the field.

"Still no sign of any other enemy forces?"

"Not yet, Commander Sonja, we're reading negative in all-- wait, we have Black Hole anti-airs and standard tanks on the radar in sector A5!"

Sonja switched the radio over to the channel used for CO communiques. "Nell! Eagle! Abort your attack runs, there are anti-airs guarding the stolen tanks!"

"Nell here, thanks for the warning!"

"Green Leader, acknowledged."

As the two copter groups pulled back through the driving rain, the tanks and anti-airs below were advancing to try and flank the beleaguered Orange Star tank corps. When they continued past the melee, however, Sonja realized their true objective.

"Andy, there are tanks and anti-airs moving in on your artillery!"

Andy's voice was strained. "We just fired a volley... it'll take at least a minute to reload."

Sonja glanced at the radar; there was no way they could fire at the tanks before the tanks reached their position. She bit her lip, trying to decide what to do. Andy would be dead if she didn't intervene. The shock of that thought moved her brain into action. "Move our recons to intercept, now!"

"Ma'am? Recons against tanks?!"

"We need to buy the artillery time to reload and take them out, or else those tanks will just be destroying our recons after they've destroyed the artillery at leisure."

"Yes, ma'am."

The Yellow Comet recons easily sped in front of the charging tanks, and then wheeled around to make a courageous stand. As the first recon exploded into flames that were quickly doused by the pouring rain, Sonja wondered for a moment whether she had just sacrificed her men for the good of the battle, or for her own love. The thought was interrupted by the thunderous salvo of Andy's artillery decimating the small strike force. Sonja turned her attention back to the battle. Philosophy later, she thought grimly. Combat now.

Eagle's battle copter sliced downward through the sheets of falling rain, firing a pair of heat-seeking missiles at a blue Neotank and strafing with machine guns as he pulled up. With the loss of their anti-airs to Andy and Sonja's quick work, the Black Hole forces were open to air attack by Eagle and Nell's elite air units. Still, he couldn't help but feel that Lash and Adder's units were putting up a much better fight than could be expected from ordinary Black Hole forces. Even with a surprise salvo that had taken out key Orange Star units, they were outnumbered almost two to one by Max's army and also two to one by Colin's, which was still struggling through the muddy forest. Only now, with the full power of the air units against them and Sonja's tanks entering the fray, were they beginning to retreat. Sami's infantry were securing all the local cities and supply depots to ensure they had nowhere to escape to, and Drake's navy would forestall any attempt to flee by sea. He smiled as he unleashed another pair of missiles against the same Neotank, but frowned when it did not explode or burst into flame as he expected the damaged tank to. Its machine gun tracked across the sky, seeking revenge, until Beta Two launched a third pair of missiles at it, finally ripping its hull plates apart and gutting it with fire. Eagle picked another target and fired, shaking his head at how hard a beating Black Hole tanks were able to take.

Within an hour, all resistance had ended. Every one of the hijacked tanks had been destroyed, as had the other Black Hole forces that had been lying in wait during the battle. All the CO's met back at the Yellow Comet headquarters, the closest secure location to discuss the battle. Max had been found injured and unconscious in a wrecked tank; he had been rushed to the hospital and was in stable condition. Little was said to Colin, who stood alone in the corner, acutely aware that his inability to keep track of his entire army had almost doomed all of them, and even after that, his remaining forces had arrived too late to make a difference in the battle. The others tried to include him in the conversation but found it impossible to discuss the battle without saying something that would embarrass the poor young commander even further. Andy and Kat were the last two to arrive in the meeting room, and they walked straight up to Sonja. Andy spoke first.

"Sonja, I... we... thanks for saving us out there. We really owe you our lives."

"Thanks, Commander. We would have been goners without your men there."

Sonja frowned at the blonde standing next to Andy. "Uh, have we met?"

Andy stepped forward. "Sorry, Sonja. This is Kat, a new subcommander who's working with me now. Kat, this is--"

"Sonja, I know." Kat grinned. "The master, or rather mistress, of tactics, reconnaissance, and intel ploys. Not to mention the princess and heiress apparent of Yellow Comet."

Sonja smiled warmly as she shook Kat's proffered hand, but remained vaguely suspicious. _How do you know me so well when I have never heard of you? _Nell's voice cut in before Sonja could ask any more questions of this new Orange Star tactician.

"Does anyone think it's at all strange that neither Lash nor Adder contacted us during the battle, even to taunt us?"

Sami frowned. "Yeah, and whichever one was running the battle never even used their CO powers."

As if in answer, the light on the communications console indicating an incoming message winked on an off. Sonja pressed the keys to display it, but instead of the expected pale visage of Lash or Adder, a figure not unlike the Grim Reaper stood in front of the camera. The face was concealed within the shadows of the black cloak, but the voice that came out was unmistakably female.

"Well, well, well. Not a bad warm-up battle, if I do say so myself. Congratulations on winning round one."

Nell was the first to recover from the shock, and she stepped forward. "Who are you?"

"I am the queen of darkness and misery. You may call me Wraith."

"Wraith? I didn't know Black Hole hired CO's dressed up as Halloween ghosts."

"Laugh for now, if you like. The battles today and a few days ago were only a taste of what I can do. And don't believe that I am subservient to the worms of Black Hole. I'll destroy them just as easily as I will you."

Nell was taken aback. Could there actually be a rogue CO that was not a part of any of the five nations of Wars World? She tried to think of something to say, to ask, anything to get more information from this mysterious assailant. Wraith cut her off before she could say anything more.

"Don't get too confident that you can defeat me. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Oh, and tell Olaf I'll be visiting him soon."

With a chilling laugh, she terminated the connection. The CO's looked at each other, a thousand thoughts all trying to be expressed coherently and failing at it. Finally, Nell spoke with authority. "Let's mobilize the entire alliance army. We have a war on our hands."


	5. Aftermath and Skirmish

---Authorial notage---

Yay, the next chapter is here at last. I hope it's worth the wait... I've been filling out accursed college applications and after they're all done I'll hopefully be updating at least once every two weeks... :(

Remember to read Soaring by Foulds, or you'll be receiving a prompt smackdown from my elite forces.

You must also review, or else I'll be sad and still sic my elite forces on you.

A note I keep forgetting to ask about is whether people prefer metric units or American (which ironically is the English system) units when describing distances, volumes, and weights. I know Foulds is British, and many other readers are American, and it really makes no difference to me; I've interspersed both throughout the story. I guess unless I hear a European outcry, I'll stick with feet and miles form now on.

Enjoy!

---end authorial note---

The sun was beginning to set on Orange Star's western horizon, filling the sky with blazes of orange and the deep hues of purple. The rain had tapered off in the late afternoon, and the CO's traveled back to the Orange Star HQ to assess the damage to their armies and decide on a plan of action to deal with the mysterious new Wraith. Nell had immediately contacted Olaf to warn him that Wraith would be "visiting" him soon... whatever that meant. Now Blue Moon's forces were on full alert and in Grit's competent hands they could fend off any attack. Nell turned away from the picturesque sunset to the room, where all of the CO's were seated. Sami was talking quietly with Colin, probably trying to console him after the loss of so many of his troops, presumed dead since Wraith had taken their tanks. Andy was fidgeting, obviously worried about his best friend, and Kat had been sent to Max's hospital room to inform Nell quickly if anything happened. The doctor told Nell that Max had broken several ribs and had a concussion, but it was nothing that a few weeks of rest couldn't heal. Max had been lucky; both his driver and gunner had been killed instantly by the attack. Sonja pored over dozens pages of data and photographs taken by her recons units and spy planes flying high over Wars World. Eagle remained silent and aloof; he hadn't lost a single pilot in the battle, but he had the sense not to brag when so many other men had died.

Assured that everyone was present, Nell called the meeting to order.

"As you all know, Orange Star's main research and development lab complex and northern base was attacked just three days ago. Our casualties were minimal, but a prominent researcher, Dr. Rand, was missing after the attack and presumed dead. All of the opposing forces fleeing after the sortie were destroyed by Eagle's bombers, but the body of a Black Hole commando was found dead by a blade wound, and none of Sami's forces were armed with combat knives. That's the first inconsistency. One explanation would be that BH commando killed another, which would make no sense."

Colin jumped in. "Wraith _did_ say she wasn't with Black Hole. Maybe she knew Black Hole was going to attack you guys and decided to try and stop them for some reason."

"Or Wraith was the attacker and Black Hole was the interloper," Eagle responded.

"Or Wraith and Black Hole were allied at the beginning of the battle, but something caused her to switch loyalties," mused Sami.

"Nell," Sonja sighed, "let's continue with the rest of the data. We can't spend all night hypothesizing about one detail."

"Right. So we received information through Flak that Adder and Lash were in Orange Star, confirming our belief that they are somehow involved with the attack. We sent out the expeditionary forces this morning to capture Adder and Lash, and you were all there to witness the result. A combined force of Colin's tanks and Black Hole armored units commanded by Wraith smashed into the Orange Star lines but were beaten back by OS artillery, YC tanks, and my own and Eagle's copters. During the battle, we noticed that Wraith's units appear to have superior armor, even the ones taken from Colin that very morning. If she has the ability to retrofit entire armies of tanks with advanced armor in a matter of hours, the problem could be much more serious than a simple troublemaking CO attacking Orange Star as Flak did last year."

"What about Adder and Lash? We never heard from them the whole time," Andy asked.

"I can answer that one, Andy," Sonja replied. "This photo..." Sonja pressed a remote control button and the image was projected onto the wall of the room, "...was taken by a fighter unit flying near the battlefield at an altitude of about two miles. The quality obviously isn't as good from that height, but you can still see the lander, and it isn't hard to guess who the two on the beach are." The two figures in the photo were walking towards a beached lander that had two anti-airs stationed on either side of it. The first figure was quite tall, but his slouching posture made him seem only barely taller then his companion, whose hairstyle added a good eight inches to her apparent height. "So Lash and Adder were both in the area until the battle was underway. This makes it seem rather likely that Wraith was lying to us and is in fact being controlled, indirectly at least, by Hawke, especially since many of her forces were Black Hole units."

Andy frowned and seemed about to raise a point when a colonel in the OS army burst into the room, causing all the CO's to turn in surprise. The officer ran over to Nell and began hurriedly whispering into her ear. Nell's eyes widened in surprise as he finished and she turned to the other CO's. "Bring her in," Nell commanded.

Two more officers walked in, supporting a woman who limped along between them. Her brown hair was matted with some blood and there were a few bruises on her otherwise unblemished face, but no truly serious injuries seemed to be hidden under the frayed lab coat she wore. Dr. Rand cleared her throat and said in a strained voice, "It's good to see you, Commander."

------------------------------------------------------------

Adder entered the room cautiously. Something didn't seem quite right in Hawke's office. The windows were almost opaque, as usual. The ebony desk sat at its usual place, its computer terminal the only real source of light in the chamber. The silence was ominous, but that was usual in Hawke's quarters. The man was ominosity incarnate. Adder inhaled slowly. The smell of coffee... was not there, Adder realized with a start. Years of drinking the powerful beverage had so affected the room that the walls seemed to give off the odor of their own volition. The only thing that could possibly erase the smell would be the running of a powerful air-conditioner for a very long time. That, or the ozone produced by... this realization caused Adder to throw himself down as a bolt of energy, visible only because it was that much blacker than the darkness of the room, coursed past him to impact into a chair. The chair seemed to liquefy while still retaining its shape in the air, a mass of roiling black plasma that Adder had no desire to attempt to sit in. The chair quickly returned to its usual grey, but it was somehow different, the fabric's very existence warped under the blast of a Black Wave. Another bolt flew overhead to hit a certificate hung upon the wall; Hawke's graduation diploma from military academy was the only trophy he ever displayed. Hawke, who had been standing quietly in the corner, frowned imperceptibly at his ruined paper. He fired another bolt at it, and the atoms that had been disarranged and strewn at random by the first attack were reordered into perfection by the mysterious other side of Hawke's immense power, bringing the text and official seal into perfect focus.

Adder marveled at the display of power, even in his fear. Hawke could destroy, but he could also heal just as easily. Decay and redemption, destruction and order; Hawke was a mix of every quality a man could have... if he was even human. He was born to be a leader, just as Sturm was born to be a person who would pave the way for the ascension of a leader. At times like these, Adder forgot any thoughts of seeing Hawke as an equal and became like his namesake, a cowering animal beneath Hawke's notice.

"Relax, Adder. My anger is not with you, nor with Lash."

The implosion of a filing cabinet a few feet away was not very reassuring.

"So. She styles herself Wraith now, does she? We'll see how long she can keep on the run now that she's made enemies of every army on the face of this world."

"You don't think she's too powerful for the worms to handle, Lord Hawke? She has some rather interesting abilities..."

"If they can defeat Sturm and myself, they can defeat her. No one person is that powerful."

"She might be."

"No. If it becomes necessary I will go out and silence "Wraith" myself. Betrayal is never forgiven in Black Hole."

------------------------------------------------------------

After her dramatic entrance to the CO's briefing room, Dr. Rand was brought into the hospital where Max and the other wounded soldiers were being kept. While the techs hooked her up to IV tubes and heartrate monitors, she explained what had happened to her over the past few days.

"Whatever happened when Swartzchild base was attacked knocked me unconscious... concussion grenades, probably. I woke up in a recon speeding west when a huge bombing run lit up the forest behind us, but none of the bombs were close enough to damage our group. I ended up at some kind of field HQ, and that crazy CO... what was it... Wraith? Yes... Wraith tried to force me to tell her all about Orange Star's latest military technology. It was bizarre... she didn't try to torture or coerce me in any way. She just kept on asking me, as if I would voluntarily give secrets to her. She even starting explaining some of their new technology to me before the battle. They had aerosol cans that they were spraying their tanks with. Wraith was telling me that the chemical inside reacts with water to produce a powerful electromagnetic field that slows down bullets and shells that would otherwise rip apart a tank. Pretty interesting idea really, wish I'd thought of something... something like that..." Dr. Rand slipped into unconsciousness, the shock and fatigue of the previous days finally taking its toll on her. Nell looked to Andy. "Hopefully she'll be able to tell us more about Wraith after she's had a chance to rest. Where did the troops say they found her?"

Andy looked down at the hastily typed report from a minor field commander in the area. "Uh, it says here that she was in a maintenance hangar set up near Wraith's HQ, tied up and unconscious. The troops that found her put her in a recon and rushed her over here since she seemed to be in healthy condition overall."

Nell glanced back at the sleeping doctor. "Well, whatever she's been through, she's definitely earned a long rest."

Andy frowned. "Well, now we know how Wraith's units were taking so much abuse during the battle, but shouldn't we get her to tell us how Wraith was able to take over Colin's units without anyone being able to detect anything? I mean, we need to defend against that kind of thing happening again."

Nell pondered for a moment, then replied, "She's still in a weak state, Andy. If she doesn't recover fully, we'll have lost one of our best military researchers. I doubt Wraith will have the units to attack again before Dr. Rand is able to give us a full debriefing... she'll probably only sleep for twelve hours at the most, and then she can tell us what else Wraith has up her sleeve. Head on back to HQ and get some sleep. We all need to be in top shape if this is the beginning of some sort of Black Hole offensive."

Andy left the room, and turned to walk down the hall to exit the building and get to his personal suite.

------------------------------------------------------------

Sonja walked hurriedly into the lobby of the hospital carrying an armful of papers and several other clipboards filled with data. She glanced at the map of the building to see the location of the room Nell and Andy were debriefing Dr. Rand in, and noticed the new OS officer Kat leaning against the wall, apparently waiting for someone. Kat had already noticed her, and called out with a smile, "Looking for Nell?"

"Actually, I wanted a word with Andy."

"Oh? What about?"

"I've been analyzing Wraith's tactics in the battle, and assembling a reliable computer simulation of her for the War Room. Since Andy and Eagle are the only active CO's on the continent who are proficient in all-around combat, I wanted to get them both to fight my Wraith tomorrow and get accustomed to combat against her. I'm also sending the files to Jess and my father so they will be ready if Wraith attacks Green Earth and Yellow Comet."

"Hmmm... but don't you think it's a little early to be trying to simulate her? We don't know her CO powers, her special strengths, or anything else about her."

"We know whether she prefers to use feints or blunt power, which terrain types she uses to defend her units, and all sorts of minute details of her psychology from the way she commands her units. I mean, there are analysts whose job is to determine whether a CO is more likely to take the north or south path around an obstacle. If we can learn that much about Wraith's psyche, changes to troop strengths or CO powers won't make that much of a difference."

Kat had an amused smile. "That much intel is all well and good, but I'd rather have units that can fight twice as hard than units who know twice as much. If I were Wraith, I could kick your intel gathering army apart in no time."

Sonja felt a hot spark of anger rising up in her. "Firepower is useless if you don't know where you're shooting. I've been a CO for longer than you've been in any army, and I think I've done perfectly well with my intel to guide me, thank you very much."

The opening of a door nearby terminated their debate, but not before Kat could get in a parting shot. "Without Kanbei's power, Yellow Comet would have been crushed by Adder long ago."

Andy walked quickly by, but saw the two females and stopped, turning to face them. Kat was standing at ease, but had a slight flush to her cheeks. Sonja was barely controlling her rage as she stood silently next to her. "Uh, hi Kat, hi Sonja. Are you two all right?"

"Never been better," Kat replied with a smile. "Sonja and I were just discussing the merits of different military strategies. In fact, she wanted to have a War Room battle tomorrow to practice with just the three of us."

Sonja's eyes darted quickly to Kat again. "I most certainly did not-"

"Sure, that sounds like a great idea!" Andy responded, apparently oblivious to Sonja's objection. "It's been a while since I've been able to have a nice long battle and not have to worry about whether people are dying."

"Well, it's getting a bit late, so I'll be headed off to sleep now, Andy! See you in the War Room tomorrow!"

Sonja and Andy both watched as Kat left the hospital and walked down the sidewalk outside towards the officers' quarters. Andy soon followed after saying goodnight to Sonja. Sonja watched silently, wondering why life had to be so complicated, why insane commanders like Wraith always had to disturb the peace, why manipulating people like Kat had to come between her and Andy right when there would be a chance to finally spend a few minutes alone with him. She sighed and pulled out a radio to call for her personal recon to take her back to the Yellow Comet encampment.

------------------------------------------------------------

As the full moon rose over the Dostoev Plains, its silver rays illuminated row upon row of artillery facing the border with Orange Star, protected by earthen walls that would shield the fragile guns from small arms fire and reduce damage in case of tank assault. Behind the artillery lay a row of rocket units, their launch tubes gleaming in the moonlight, ready to rain death upon anyone foolish enough to attack Blue Moon's capital city, Kherograd, by land.

The dark figure who was observing from a nearby hill put down her binoculars and shook her head. "It seems Olaf does not want to come out and play. He hides behind the only true commander this backward nation has... pity that I'll have to destroy Grit to win this battle."

Wraith was aware of the presence of her top lieutenant. She turned with a faint rustling of her cloak to face the subordinate. "Have you seized the airbases yet?"

"Yes, commander. All of our troops are in position."

"Excellent." Wraith drew her personal weapon, a long, curved scimitar, from its sheath, its blade looking wicked and terrible as it glinted in the faint light. "Prepare for an attack at an hour before dawn."

The lieutenant saluted and departed. Wraith resumed her observance of the incredible defensive formation that had been set up by the famed sharpshooter with incredibly short notice. "Grit, in four hours you'll be dead and Blue Moon's strength will be decimated. Such a pity..."


End file.
